passenger rail investment. Nevertheless, “Buy America”
contract provisions have prompted Alstom to establish
parts production at its existing U.S. facilities and
assemble a strong stable of domestic suppliers. These
include carbon steel power car shells made in Alma,
Mich., by Merrill Technologies; seats manufactured by
Transitair in Hornell; and trucks fabricated by LB Steel
in Harvey, Ill.
“There is no U.S. facility [that] does the length of an
aluminum carbody shell [we need],” Cuadrado says.
“That’s why we obtained a waiver from the FRA to get
these shells from our factory in Savigliano, Italy; these
are the only parts from abroad on this trainset.”
Power car production was in full swing during
Trains’ June visit, with many of the electrical and
crash energy management components installed.
Virtually all propulsion elements, including the main
circuit breaker, have been brought inside the shell to
facilitate greater maintenance accessibility, temperature
control, and a sleeker look.“We recognize that the total life-cycle cost is as
important as the acquisition cost,” Cuadrado says, “so
there has been extensive engineering collaboration
between Alstom and Amtrak personnel in the design
process, aided by virtual 3D technology to see, prior to
routing wires and piping, if you can get into an area
with a tool to maintain it.”BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE
Larry Biess, Amtrak program management’s deputy
chief mechanical officer, tells Trains that under the
technical support and spare supply contract, “It’s up to
Alstom to maintain the trains. We provide the labor;
they provide the technical expertise and [must meet]
trainset availability performance targets.”
About 800 Alstom employees work at three
Hornell-area locations, purchased when the company
entered and expanded into the heavy rail transit busi-
ness. The power cars are assembled in a 19th-century
former Erie Railroad locomotive erecting shop, which
Alstom calls the high bay build-
ing. Other production tasks take
place at the adjacent new car
facility and end-of-cycle build-
ing. Finished trainsets will move
to the recently erected, 750-foot-
long static-test building, funded
in part with a $30-million eco-
nomic development grant from
New York state. Alstom also
lengthened a test track next to
Norfolk Southern’s ex-Erie main
line that will allow speeds up to
40 mph.
The plan is to ship the first prototype to the Associ-
ation of American Railroads’ Transportation Technol-
ogy Center near Pueblo, Colo., this December and
start testing in January 2020. “Testing there will go on
for eight months,” Biess says, “but once we get enough
confidence [in their performance] at Pueblo, we
should be able to start dynamic testing of these train-
sets on the Northeast Corridor in March.”
Though seats and cafe car appliances hadn’t been
delivered to Hornell, workers were busy installing
conduit that will deliver improved Wi-Fi throughout
the train, as well as power outlets and USB ports
between every seat, rather than on the carbody walls.
Other interior improvements include open overhead
luggage racks with clear bottoms (as opposed to the
current Acela’s airline-style closed bins), larger pub-
lic-information display boards visible from any point
on the train, wide passageways between cars, and a
60-inch turning radius outside of every car’s rest-
rooms. Those restrooms are Americans with Disabili-
ties Act-compliant and equipped with touchless44 SEPTEMBER 2019Top left: Alstom
project director
Didier Cuadrado
examines main
circuit breaker
assembly at the rear
of a power car. All
components are
inside to afford
better maintenance
and provide a
sleeker roofline.
Top right: Miranda
Button (left) and
Michelle Wright
work on a power-car
wiring harness.
Trucks will be
attached between
permanently
coupled coaches to
provide articulation.
Caroline Decker, VP
of NEC Service